The present invention relates to beds and, more particularly, to headboard and dual king bracket assemblies for an adjustable bed.
Conventional residential beds include a frame, a box spring and a mattress. The mattress lays flat on the box spring. The bed is not adjustable to different angled or elevational positions. The frame may include a fixed bracket for mounting a headboard and/or footboard. Only limited adjustment to accommodate of different headboard sizes is provided. The retail bedding industry has developed mounting dimension standards for conventional twin, double and king size beds. Compliance with the standards is voluntary, however, and standardized mounting dimensions may be eliminated for esthetic or structural reasons. The voluntary standards still provide up to six different vertical mounting hole location options. Problems may be encountered using headboards or footboards from manufactures different than those for the frame.
In addition, it is known to attach a pair of twin size beds to a single headboard to form a dual king arrangement. Swing kits attach the frames to the headboard so that they may be swung apart for ease of linen changes and the like. Available kits do not readily adjust to different mattress widths or variances in headboard dimensions and mounting hole locations.
The problems with accommodating different headboards, footboards and swing kit arrangements are further aggravated with adjustable beds. Adjustable beds are common in the healthcare industry. The beds include a base frame and a multi-section mattress frame. The pivotally connected sections may be angularly adjusted so that the occupant may be moved from a horizontal position to a seated position. The sections are generally adjusted manually or electric motors may be used. Generally, healthcare beds are provided only in a nonstandard or reduced width twin bed size. A twin bed size is approximately four inches less than the standard residential or conventional bed to facilitate movement through doors and the like.
In the healthcare industry, headboards and footboards are typically custom designed to fit the particular unit. The articulating nature or angular adjustment feature of the bed requires that relative motion between the frame and the headboard and footboard be accommodated. Positioning the headboard and footboard too close to the moving frame may create pinch points. Conventional headboards, footboards and the like are not readily usable with known adjustable beds.
Commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/809,879 filed Dec. 17, 1991 and entitled ADJUSTABLE BED WITH WIRE GRID MATTRESS SUPPORT to the present inventor and still pending, discloses an adjustable mechanical bed including a wire grid mattress support which accommodates conventional retail twin, full and queen size mattresses. In developing an adjustable bed for the retail market, the aforementioned problems of headboard/footboard mounting must also be resolved. A system is needed which will mount conventional headboards and footboards to an adjustable bed and which accommodates the articulation of the bed structure. Also, it would be desirable to provide a headboard mounting bracket system which permits twin beds to be pivotally interconnected or pivoted to a headboard so that a king size bed arrangement can be obtained.